Buehrle, Encarnacion lead Jays to win

TORONTO - Mark Buehrle has felt better coming out of the bullpen after his warmups than he did Monday night and has done worse.

"This was probably the worst I've felt coming out of the bullpen this season," the left-hander said. "I've felt great coming out of the bullpen and had my butt handed to me."

This time it was the other way around. Buehrle (2-3) pitched six strong innings and Edwin Encarnacion drove in five runs with a a three-run homer and a two-run single as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Atlanta Braves 9-3.

"That just tells you how this game is," said Buehrle who won for the first time since April 15. "Today I was like if I get through five innings it's going to be a miracle, but I went out there, made my pitches and kept the ball down. Just keep the ball down and hope for the best."

Colby Rasmus and J.P. Arencibia each added a two-run homer against Braves right-hander Tim Hudson (4-4) as the Blue Jays (22-29) won their second in a row before a crowd of 22,808 at Rogers Centre.

Rasmus also hit a double against his brother Cory Rasmus in the seventh inning. Encarnacion hit his 14th homer of the season in the same inning against Cory with two on.

The Braves (30-20), who have lost two in a row after their eight-game winning streak ended on Sunday, got three hits from Evan Gattis, including his 11th homer of the season. It came with one on in the eighth against right-hander Brad Lincoln.

Buehrle held the Braves to five hits, two walks and one run and made 111 pitches to win to lower his earned-run average to 5.51.

"He's had some other good ones," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He's been on a nice little roll for his last four or five starts.

"You can just see every time he goes out there, his last four or five, his command is where he wants it. That's where he was battling early on in the season, it was kind of hit and miss, just game to game."

"He made some pitches through the course of the night that kept us off balance," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

Hudson gave up six runs over six innings, and two of the eight hits he allowed were home runs.

Cory Rasmus, a right-hander, was pitching in his second career major-league game when he faced his brother with one out and three runs home in the seventh.

"I was hoping our brother would get the better end of that one but he didn't," Gonzalez said.

It was the first time in the majors that brothers faced each other since June 13, 2010, when Jered Weaver faced Jeff Weaver.

"It was a strange feeling, a lot of emotions going on, but it was awesome and terrible at the same time," Colby Rasmus said. "On that home run my gut kind of wrenched up a little bit, but that's the game. I've never faced him in a game; we've always been on the same team."

"It was still awesome," Cory said. "The fact that we lost -- the outcome is the most important part. But me facing him was a lot of fun. It just sucks that he got a hit."

Colby Rasmus hit his eighth homer of the season after Adam Lind led off the second with a double to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

"Just not a very good night," Hudson said. "It was a night where I was battling with my delivery a little bit, my pitches weren't very crisp. I hung a breaking ball to Rasmus and he made me pay for it.

"I really didn't get away with a whole lot. There's some work I need to do, obviously, on the side, clean up a couple of things in my delivery. Obviously the quality of some of the stuff I'm throwing up there isn't what I want it to be."

The Blue Jays made it 4-0 in the third on a two-run single by Encarnacion, which followed a walk to Melky Cabrera and a double by Jose Bautista.

Andrelton Simmons singled with two out in the fifth to drive in an Atlanta run, knocking in Chris Johnson , who doubled with one out and took third on a groundout.

NOTES: Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie sprained his left ankle while stealing second base in the sixth inning and was replaced by Mark DeRosa. Lawrie is listed as day-to-day. ... RHP Josh Johnson (triceps strain) is working out with the Blue Jays in Toronto before going back to Double-A Buffalo for his final rehabilitation assignment on Thursday. ... Braves CF B.J. Upton did not start Monday's game as he works on adjustments to his swing. He is batting .148 with four homers and eight RBIs. ... Braves RF Jason Heyward did not start. He had played in nine games (8-for-334, .235) after returning from an appendectomy. ... Blue Jays RHP Esmil Rogers is scheduled to make his first start of the season Wednesday at Atlanta after being used as a reliever. ... Braves RHP Jordan Walden (shoulder inflammation) began a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Gwinnet at Syracuse on Monday ... LHP Paul Maholm (6-4, 3.38 ERA) will start for the Braves on Tuesday against Toronto RHP Brandon Morrow (2-3, 5.50 ERA).